Isle of Dread

5 May 2018

Let’s Map Mystara 1983

Atlas of Mystara, Great Waste, Hule, Isle of Dread, Karameikos, Known World, Let's Map Mystara, Mystara 22

In which we move through the world’s first mega expansion: 1983. Stay with me, it’s going to be a long post!

Mystara Geographic Maps 1981-1983

Map	Name	Hex	Year	M	Source	Reference
0	Original Known World map	24	?		Lawrence Schick
1	Map M-1 The Continent	24	1981	1	X1 The Isle of Dread	p. 16-17
2	Map D-1 Isle of Dread	6	1981	1	X1 The Isle of Dread	p. 14
2	[Isle of Dread Players' Map]	6	1981	1	X1 The Isle of Dread	p. 32
3	Map D-2 The Central Plateau	1	1981	1	X1 The Isle of Dread	p. 21
4	The Grand Duchy of Karameikos	6	1981	1	Expert Rulebook	p. X61
-	Terrain Symbols	-	1981	1	Expert Rulebook	p. X62
5	Province of Averoigne	12	1981		X2 Castle Amber (Château d'Ambreville)	p. 16
6	Gulluvia	-	1981		B3 Palace of the Silver Princess (orange)	p. 5
7	[Vestland and surroundings]	24	1982		X3 Curse of Xanathon	p. 3
8	The Wilderness Map of the Great Waste	24	1983	4	X4 Master of the Desert Nomads	p. 7
9	Map of Hule	24	1983	7	X5 Temple of Death	p. 31
10	Map 6 The Continent	24	1983	8	X1 The Isle of Dread	p. 16-17
11	Map 1 The Isle of Dread	6	1983	8	X1 The Isle of Dread	p. 13
-	[Isle of Dread Players' Map]	6	1983	8	X1 The Isle of Dread	Cover Gatefold
12	Map 10 Central Plateau	1	1983	8	X1 The Isle of Dread	p. 20
13	Map #2 The Lands and Environs of the D&D Wilderness	24	1983	8	Expert Rules Set	p. 33
14	Map #1 The Grand Duchy of Karameikos	6	1983	8	Expert Rules Set	p. 32
-	[Legend]	-	1983	8	Expert Rules Set	p. 31

I’m afraid I still haven’t tackled B3 yet, but it’ll have to wait for another post.

The Grand Duchy of Karameikos and surroundings

17 April 2018

Let’s Map Mystara 1981-1982

Atlas of Mystara, Isle of Dread, Karameikos, Known World, Let's Map Mystara, Mystara 8

In which we proceed through the rest of 1981’s maps and add 1982’s sole contribution.

**Map 4: “Grand Duchy of Karameikos” from Expert Rulebook (1981)**

Colourised replica of the Expert Rulebook (1981)'s Karameikos map, 6 miles per hex — *Colourised replica of the Expert Rulebook (1981)’s Karameikos map, 6 miles per hex*

From the Atlas of Mystara:

Although the 1981 Expert Set did not reprint the Known World map in any form, it did include a 6 mile per hex map of the Karameikos region. In addition to X1 (1981)’s cities of Specularum and Selenica, this larger scale map introduced a number of new settlements to Karameikos, including Luln (marked as a town); the Haunted Keep and Wereskalot in the neighbouring Five Shires (both ruins); and Fortdoom, Krakatos, and the Estate of Marilenev (all castles). The Black Eagle Barony is named, and labels appear for gnomes, elves, dwarves, kobolds, goblins, orcs, bugbears, and frost giants.
Interestingly, the Lost Valley is shown (though hard to make out) and labelled — and it’s across the border, in Darokin.

The text on page X60 provides some level of detail for some of these names, as well as a few more labels to add to the map: Gulf of Halag and Black Peaks/Cruth Mountains/The Steach.

The text also sets up the Black Eagle Barony and defines its relationship with Luln, and notes that the Haunted Keep is also known as Koriszegy Keep. Amusingly, half of the page is given over to the gnomes, although there is no mention yet of the name of their settlement.

15 April 2018

Let’s Map Mystara 1981 II

Atlas of Mystara, Isle of Dread, Known World, Let's Map Mystara, Mystara 9

Map 2: “Isle of Dread” from X1 (1981)

Colourised replica of X1 (1981)'s Isle of Dread map, 6 miles per hex — *Colourised replica of X1 (1981)’s Isle of Dread map, 6 miles per hex*

Including Map 2a, the player’s map of the Isle of Dread, which is a variant of this map.

From the Atlas of Mystara:

X1 contains not one but two iconic Mystara maps. This is the original Isle of Dread map.
The map itself used horizontal rather than vertical columns of hexes, but since nothing around it was ever mapped, this doesn’t really pose a great problem. Much more problematic is the scale, and it has become common knowledge in the Mystara community that the map needs to be interpreted as 4 miles per hex in order to get it to match with the size of the Isle as shown on the 24 mile per hex map. The alternative — rescaling the 24 mile per hex map’s Isle to match the 6 mile per hex scale — would put the Isle of Dread out of scale with the other islands in the Thanegioth Archipelago, although it’s an equally valid solution.